Adverbs

Adverbs


Adverbs are an important part of speech. They usually answer questions such as how?, where?, when?, how often? and how much?

What is an Adverb?

What do adverbs do? What's their job?

What is an Adverb?

An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. It "qualifies" or "modifies" a verb (The man ran quickly). In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the verb that it modifies is in italics.

• John speaks loudly. (How does John speak?)

• Afterwards she smoked a cigarette. (When did she smoke?)

• Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live?)

But adverbs can also modify adjectives (Tara is really beautiful), or even other adverbs (It works very well). Look at these examples:

• Modify an adjective:

- He is really handsome. (How handsome is he?)

- That was extremely kind of you.

• Modify another adverb:

- She drives incredibly slowly. (How slowly does she drive?)

- He drives extremely fast.

Note that adverbs have other functions, too. They can:

• Modify a whole sentence: Obviously, I can't know everything.

• Modify a prepositional phrase: It's immediately inside the door.



Adverb Form

How do we make adverbs?

Adverb Form

We make many adverbs by adding -ly to an adjective, for example:

• quick (adjective) > quickly (adverb)

• careful (adjective) > carefully (adverb)

• beautiful (adjective) > beautifully (adverb)

There are some basic rules about spelling for -ly adverbs. See the table below:

Adjective ending do this adjective adverb

most adjectives add -ly quick

nice

sole

careful quickly

nicely

solely

carefully

-able or -ible change -e to -y regrettable

horrible regrettably

horribly

-y change -y to -ily happy happily

-ic change -ic to -ically economic economically

But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. The words friendly, lovely, lonely and neighbourly, for example, are all adjectives.

And some adverbs have no particular form. Look at these examples:

• well, fast, very, never, always, often, still

Note that the form of an adverb can also change to make it comparative or superlative.



Kinds of Adverbs

What are the main kinds of adverbs?

Kinds of Adverbs

Here you can see the basic kinds of adverbs.

Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of Manner tell us the manner or way in which something happens. They answer the question "how?". Adverbs of Manner mainly modify verbs.

• He speaks slowly. (How does he speak?)

• They helped us cheerfully. (How did they help us?)

• James Bond drives his cars fast. (How does James Bond drive his cars?)

We normally use Adverbs of Manner with dynamic (action) verbs, not with stative or state verbs.

• He ran fast. She came quickly. They worked happily.

• She looked beautifully. It seems strangely. They are happily.

Adverbs of Place

Adverbs of Place tell us the place where something happens. They answer the question "where?". Adverbs of Place mainly modify verbs.

• Please sit here. (Where should I sit?)

• They looked everywhere. (Where did they look?)

• Two cars were parked outside. (Where were two cars parked?)

Adverbs of Time

Adverbs of Time tell us something about the time that something happens. Adverbs of Time mainly modify verbs.

They can answer the question "when?":

• He came yesterday. (When did he come?)

• I want it now. (When do I want it?)

Or they can answer the question "how often?":

• They deliver the newspaper daily. (How often do they deliver the newspaper?)

• We sometimes watch a movie. (How often do we watch a movie?)

Adverbs of Degree

Adverbs of Degree tell us the degree or extent to which something happens. They answer the question "how much?" or "to what degree?". Adverbs of Degree can modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.

• She entirely agrees with him. (How much does she agree with him?)

• Mary is very beautiful. (To what degree is Mary beautiful? How beautiful is Mary?)

• He drove quite dangerously. (To what degree did he drive dangerously? How dangerously did he drive?)



Adverb Position

Where do we place the adverb in a sentence?

Adverb Position

When an adverb modifies a verb, there are usually 3 possible positions within the sentence or clause:

1. FRONT - before subject Now I will read a book.

2. MID - between subject + verb I often read books.

3. END - after verb/object I read books carefully.

When an adverb modifies an adjective or another adverb, it usually goes in front of the word that it modifies, for example:

adverb adjective

She gave him a really dirty look.

adverb adverb

We quite often study English.

The position of an adverb often depends on the kind of adverb (manner, place, time, degree). The following table gives you some guidelines for placement based on the kind of adverb.

Warning: these are guidelines only, and not complete. There are many exceptions.

kind of adverb mainly modifies sentence usual position

adverb

manner verbs She stroked his hair gently. END

place verbs He was working here. END

time definite verbs He finished the job yesterday. END

frequency We often go to Paris. MID

degree verbs, adjectives and adverbs I nearly died. MID

It was terribly funny. before adjective

He works really fast. before adverb



Adverbs of Frequency

hourly, weekly, once a year...

always, sometimes, never...

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs of Frequency are Adverbs of Time that answer the question "How frequently?" or "How often?". They tell us how often something happens. Here are some examples:

a. daily, weekly, yearly

b. often, sometimes, rarely

You probably see a difference between a) and b) above. With words like daily we know exactly how often. The words in a) describe definite frequency. On the other hand, words like often give us an idea about frequency but they don't tell us exactly. The words in b) describe indefinite frequency.

We separate them into two groups because they normally go in different positions in the sentence.

In this lesson we will look in more detail at:

• Adverbs of Definite Frequency

• Adverbs of Indefinite Frequency







Adverbs of definite frequency

Examples:

• hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly

• every second, once a minute, twice a year

• once, twice, once or twice, three times

Adverbs of definite frequency, like all adverbs of definite time, typically go in END position. Look at these examples:

• Most companies pay taxes yearly.

• The manager checks the toilets every hour.

• The directors meet weekly to review progress.

Sometimes, usually for reasons of emphasis or style, some adverbs of definite frequency may go at the FRONT, for example:

• Every day, more than five thousand people die on our roads.

Adverbs of indefinite frequency

Examples:

• never, seldom, sometimes, often, always

100% always, constantly

usually, normally

frequently, regularly

often

50% sometimes

occasionally

rarely, infrequently

seldom

hardly ever

0% never

Adverbs of indefinite frequency mainly go in MID position in the sentence. They go before the main verb (except the main verb "to be"):

• We usually go shopping on Saturday.

• I have often done that.

• She is always late.

Occasionally, sometimes, often, frequently and usually can also go at the beginning or end of a sentence:

• Sometimes they come and stay with us.

• I play tennis occasionally.

Rarely and seldom can also go at the end of a sentence (often with "very"):

• We see them rarely.

• John eats meat very seldom.

Adverbs of Manner List

Alphabetical list of common single-word manner adverbs

Adverbs of manner form the largest group of adverbs. We make most of them simply by adding -ly to their corresponding adjective. This is an alphabetical list of 130 common single-word adverbs of manner. Adverbs of manner that do not end in -ly are shown in bold.

Accidentally angrily anxiously awkwardly badly beautifully

blindly boldly bravely brightly busily calmly

carefully carelessly cautiously cheerfully clearly

closely correctly courageously cruelly daringly

deliberately doubtfully eagerly easily elegantly

enormously enthusiastically equally eventually exactly

faithfully fast fatally fiercely fondly

foolishly fortunately frankly frantically generously

gently gladly gracefully greedily happily

hard hastily healthily honestly hungrily

hurriedly inadequately ingeniously innocently inquisitively irritably

joyously justly kindly lazily loosely loudly

madly mortally mysteriously neatly nervously noisily

obediently openly painfully patiently perfectly politely

poorly powerfully promptly punctually quickly quietly

rapidly rarely really recklessly regularly reluctantly

repeatedly rightfully roughly rudely sadly safely

selfishly sensibly seriously sharply shyly silently

sleepily slowly smoothly so softly solemnly

speedily stealthily sternly straight stupidly successfully

suddenly suspiciously swiftly tenderly tensely thoughtfully

tightly truthfully unexpectedly victoriously violently vivaciously

warmly weakly wearily well wildly wisely

Adverbs of Time List

List of common single-word time adverbs

points of time (definite):

• now

• then

• today

• tomorrow

• tonight

• yesterday

frequency (definite):

• annually

• daily

• fortnightly

• hourly

• monthly

• nightly

• quarterly

• weekly

• yearly

The word "bimonthly" is ambiguous and best avoided. Bimonthly can mean "twice a month" or "every two months". The same is true of "biyearly"/"biannually".

frequency (indefinite):

• always

• constantly

• ever

• frequently

• generally

• infrequently

• never

• normally

• occasionally

• often

• rarely

• regularly

• seldom

• sometimes

• regularly

• usually

relationships in time (indefinite):

• already

• before

• early

• earlier

• eventually

• finally

• first

• formerly

• just

• last

• late

• later

• lately

• next

• previously

• recently

• since

• soon

• still

• yet

Adverbs of Place List

Alphabetical list of common single-word place adverbs

About above abroad anywhere away back

backwards (also backward) behind below down downstairs

east (etc) elsewhere far here in indoors inside near nearby

off on out outside over there towards under up upstairs

where

Common suffixes

• -wards or -ward (backwards, downwards, eastward, forwards, homewards, upwards)

• -where (anywhere, everywhere, nowhere, somewhere)

Note that some adverbs can also be prepositions.

• She was waiting with a red scarf on. (adverb)

• She put the red scarf on the table. (preposition)